The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has initiated provisionally attaching overseas assets worth Rs 37.5 crore of Dubai-based businessman Vinod Khute, owner of VIPS Group of Companies and M/s Global Affiliate Business company based in Pune in a money laundering case linked to a Ponzi scheme and forex trading scam. The agency said on Wednesday that it has issued order for the attachment of the said properties under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The attached assets are in the form of immovable properties consisting of various flats worth Rs 37.5 crore located in Dubai belonging to Vinod Khute.
ED’s money laundering case is based on the FIR registered by Bharti Vidyapeeth Police Station, Pune under various sections of Indian Penal Code against Vinod Tukaram Khute, Santosh Khute, Mangesh Khute, Kiran Pitamber Anarase, Ajinkya Badadhe and other unknown persons.
The accused were booked for cheating common people and hatching a criminal conspiracy to lure common people in Ponzi scheme and forex trading on the pretext of high returns and by doing so collected more than Rs.100 crore in the bank accounts of several bogus/sham firms/entities/companies.
ED investigations have revealed that Vinod Khute, who is presently residing in Dubai, is the mastermind of various illegal trade, crypto exchange, wallet services, forex trading through Dubai-based firm M/s Kana Capital Limited. Vinod Khute established multiple companies, including M/s VIPSWALLET Pvt. Ltd., M/s VIPSTRADE Finance Private Limited (M/s VTFPL), M/s Kana Capitals Limited, M/s Global Affiliate Business (GAB), VIPs Securities, and VIPS Properties, among others, to carry out illicit financial activities, the agency stated.
Further, funds were collected from investors and routed through shell companies and dummy accounts to conceal the illicit nature of the
transactions. Thereafter, funds were transferred out of India to Dubai through hawala operators, in exchange of cryptocurrency such as USDT, to evade regulatory scrutiny and facilitate money laundering, the ED stated.
The proceeds of crime of more than Rs 100 crore quantified as per the investigation conducted so far have been utilised by Vinod Khute for his personal use, running day-to-day affairs of his companies, acquiring properties in Dubai as well as in India etc, the central agency said.
Earlier, ED had carried out searches on various locations based in Pune, Ahmedabad, Mumbai related to Vinod Khute and frozen a sum of Rs 23 crore in the form of bank balances and cash under the provisions of FEMA, 1999.
